Power outage causes major delays on Blue Line

The Blue Line was experiencing delays of up to two hours Thursday morning because of a power outage, and officials asked commuters to avoid the light rail line.

The outage was in effect from the Imperial/Wilmington station in Willowbrook, south of Watts, all the way to the 7th Street/Metro Center station in downtown Los Angeles, officials said. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the delays were due to a loss of power at its main yard.

About 79,000 passengers ride the Blue Line each day.

Authorities urged those who usually would be train passengers to either drive or take the Silver Line express bus on the 110 Freeway busway to get from the Long Beach area to downtown.

The MTA said officials are trying to get extra buses into the problem area to help light rail passengers around the gap.

"Up to 25 buses are being pulled off existing bus service to provide shuttling between stations," MTA officials said in a statement.

The MTA listed alternate forms of transportation on its website, and said up-to-the-minute information can be found on its Twitter feed.

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-- Rong-Gong Lin II

Photo: Commuters board Blue Line trains after a delay Thursday morning due to an electrical outage. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times